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LINDENWOOD TALES 



The next morning just as soon as it 
was light they peeped in the window. 





LINDENWOOD TALES 


MARGUERITE BEHMAN 


Illustrations 

H. C. MEYER 




New York 

WILDER & BUELL 
1921 



Copyright, 1921, by 
Wilder & Buell 



JPiN -6 1922 

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beQtieod'h to the 
>/ollowii?<g cfrildrer? 
one ytor^ ee^cl?' 
Barbara Vircroi? Jor?e/ 
Err?e/f Policy , Jr. 
Oliver Le Compile, Jr. 
Barbara Ao^roai? 
"Billy "/Aiddlefot? 
"Badciy'Vlo'OJ? 

Arcbie A.EIIi/.Jr. 

Pir?e ClarK 
Pot?ald ClarK 
Regit?a, Betty apdvJirwirjy/berwGDd; 


THE STORIES 

A CAT TALE 

HOW THE POTATO GOT HIS EYES 
THE BAD LITTLE TWIN 
THE SAND GUARD 
THE BOY WHO GREW 
WHITEY’S VANITY 
SANDY’S ADVENTURE 
RAG’S DIARY 
AFTER THE BAWL 
MARIA CATCHES A MOUSE 
HAZEL EYE’S REVENGE 
THE SNOW MAIDEN 



O NCE upon a time years and years ago there 
lived an enormous cat with a terrible appe- 
tite for birds and fish; although there was 
always plenty of milk and mice to be had he 
was never satisfied with this delicious fare but 
would rob the poor birds’ nests and pounce sud- 
denly on the unsuspecting fish in the stream 
and gobble them up with a relish. 

Of course after several of their friends had 
disappeared in this way the fish became very 
cautious and took good care not to swim near 
the edge of the stream when Puss was about. 
The minute that anyone caught sight of the 
cat’s green eyes peering greedily into the water 
he shouted “Wogglewob” which translated 
means “Keep in the Middle,” and immediately 
all the fish would scurry away from the banks. 
But the very young birds had no way of pro- 
tecting themselves and lived in constant fear 
7 


of the cruel old cat who each day grew fatter 
and fatter and fatter! 

One afternoon the cry “Wogglewob’’ had 
sounded and all the fish were keeping well in 
the middle of the stream when one little fish 
was seen to dart off suddenly toward the very 
spot on the bank where Puss lay watching. 

A big snapper turtle (who was very popular 
with all the young fish because he could tell 
such delightful fish stories) saw the danger 
and begged his young friend to swim back. 
And all the fish held their breath while this 
bold young one splashed defiantly under the 
cat’s very nose! 

“My boy, my boy, come back,’’ cried the 
fish’s mother, terrified. The others shouted 
too, and gasped whenever the cat made a lunge. 

When little Sonny-fish realized all the excite- 
ment he was causing he felt very important and 
started to swim closer and closer to the bank 
just to show them how quick and clever he 
could be. 

Puss sat on the very edge of the bank never 
taking his eyes off shining young Sonny-fish; 
whenever he came within reach the cat 
stretched out his paws and scooped down in the 
water after him. Several times the cat almost 
had him; and each time with a sudden twist of 
his silvery body, the little fish managed to dart 
away. But alas, not satisfied with his many 
narrow escapes Sonny-fish swam by once too 
often. 


8 


Splash! The cat dipped in suddenly and 
caught Sonny-fish securely between his paws. 

Then how the cruel old cat laughed while the 
poor little frightened fish flapped and turned 
and squirmed to get away! 

“Now for a feast,” gloated the old cat wick- 
edly, smacking his lips. The fish’s mother 
fainted on the spot and it seemed that every- 
thing was over for little ° r 1 . But they 



had reckoned without 


Creeping 


along very softly the Turtle had gotten just be- 
hind the cat as that animal was about to take 
his first bite, and opening his jaws very wide, 
snapped them suddenly on the cat’s tail! 

The cat gave a loud yell, dropped Sonny-fish 
and started running away as fast as he could, 
the turtle still clinging to the end of his tail. 

Sonny-fish finding himself free again rolled 
over and over on the grass and finally flopped 
back into the stream, a sad but wiser little fish. 
The doctor fish was called and hurried over im- 
mediately. 

“Well, my little man,” said the doctor, open- 
ing his black satchel and peering over his 
glasses at Sonny-fish, “let’s see what we can do 
for you. There! Now don’t jump, I’m not go- 
ing to hurt you.” Then Doctor Fish bound up 
poor Sonny’s wounds which were fortunately 
not serious, and patting him on the head told 
him he was a brave boy and would be as well 
as ever in a few days. 

About an hour later the fish saw the Turtle 


9 


on the bank again and all swam over to thank 
him for his kindness. The Turtle was rather 
embarrassed by the grateful fish and told them 
not to mention it — that he was glad to have 
been of service to them. 

“I only meant to frighten the cat so he would 
drop Sonny "fish,” the Turtle explained, “but he 
dashed away so quickly and pulled so hard that 
before I could let go the end of his tail, it came 
off! It’s too bad. I don’t suppose it could be 
attached again?” 

The doctor fish gravely informed him that 
such a thing was not possible. 

“If you don’t want the tail yourself, Mr. 
Turtle,” he suggested, “it might be a great pro- 
tection to us.” The Turtle had no use for it 
and gave it to the fish gladly. 

So the fish, with the aid of a meadowlark had 
the cat’s tail tied to the top of a very high reed 
that grew near the bank’s edge. There it 
waved for many a day and frightened away all 
the cats who strolled there to fish. 

One day a strange thing was discovered. The 
fishes found another cat’s tail growing beside 
the old one! After that another one appeared 
almost every day until the bank was lined with 
them. And ever since that time near most 
brooks and streams, these long reeds are to be 
found with their queer furry tops, which to this 
very day people still call, ‘‘Cat Tails.” 


10 


HOW THE POTATO GOT HIS EYES 


O NCE upon a time a long, long time ago there 
grew in a garden on Long Island a Potato 
whose body was as smooth as a rubber 
ball and whiter than the lilies in the field. The 
stalk from which he hung was so high that he 
could overlook all the other vegetables and so, 
one very hot afternoon, when the vegetables 
were dozing and all was quiet in the garden the 
Potato noticed a fat brown toad among the 
plants hopping as fast as he could. As he drew 
nearer the Potato saw that he was almost ex- 
hausted and stopped every now and then in his 
flight to get his breath, his white throat throb- 
bing in and out, in and out, like a bellows ; then 
he would hurry on a little further. When he 
paused beside the Potato his throat seemed to 
throb harder than ever. 

The Potato bent over him. 

‘‘Why do you hurry so, friend Toad?” he 
asked looking at him with pity. 

It was a few seconds before the Toad found 
breath to answer him. 

‘‘A snake wants to eat me up!” he panted. 
‘‘There he comes now from behind the corn. 
I must hurry on! Oh dear, oh dear.” And the 
poor old toad prepared to rush forth, but the 
Potato whispered to him to stay, and leaned 
over in such a way that his leaves completely 
hid the quivering toad. Suddenly a long green 
11 


snake came gliding by, licking his lips, his 
wicked black eyes peering from side to side as 
he haughtily swept along. 

“Did a fat brown toad pass this way?” he de- 
manded of the Potato. 

But the Potato did not answer him and pre- 
tended to be asleep. So the snake rushed on 
and out of the garden. When it was perfectly 
safe the toad hopped out of his hiding place. 

“Dear friend,” quavered the Toad to the Po- 
tato, tears of gratitude rolling down his fat 
cheeks, “someday I hope I may repay you.” 

And one day the grateful Toad had a chance 
to help the friendly Potato. It came about in 
this way: 

The vegetables decided that they must have 
an election and choose one of their number 
king. For days the excitement in the garden 
was intense. Who would be made the king of 
them all? A number favored the Tomato, the 
Potato was very popular, and the Lima Bean 
had a large following. It was really difficult 
to guess who would be crowned. 

But whoever the king might be, he would 
need a crown; so the most skillful spider in the 
neighborhood was given the task of making it. 
Every day from morn until night she worked 
madly in order to finish it in time for the coro- 
nation. When she had set the last dewdrop in 
place the vegetables held their final election 
and the Potato was made king. He was a very 
good king and might have reigned over the 
12 



vegetable garden forever and ever, if it hadn’t 
been for the jealousy of the Tomato. The To- 
mato was very angry because he had not been 
elected king; so one night he called to an old 
witch who lived near by and promised to give 
her all the tomato leaves she wanted if she 
would punish the Potato for daring to be king. 

Now if there is one thing a witch loves better 
than another, it is the tomato leaf. This hor- 
rible witch walked over to the innocent Potato 
and tapping him on the head with her long 
fingers banished him to the underground. 

“Ah,” thought the Tomato greedily, “now I 
shall be elected king.” But all the other vege- 
tables were so angry when they learned what 
had happened that they refused to elect another 
king, and no vegetable has ruled over the gar- 
den since. 

The poor Potato was very miserable under- 
ground. The coarse dirt scratched his tender 
white skin and he kept bumping into things be- 
cause he couldn’t see. Then one day the fat 
brown Toad whom he had once befriended 
came into the garden looking for him. 

“Where is my good friend the Potato?” he 
asked the Tomato who happened to be nearby. 
The Tomato laughed harshly. 

“You will find him where he belongs, under- 
ground!” he sneered. 

The Toad put his ear to the ground and could 
hear the Potato groaning ’way under the earth. 

“Potato,” he called very close to the ground. 

13 



“Listen to me. It is your friend the Toad who 
speaks.” 

“Ah me,” moaned the Potato. “Would I 
had never been made king. Just see what it 
has brought upon me.” 

“Take heart, dear friend,” called back the 
Toad. “I have a fairy friend whom I shall 
bring here. Perhaps she may help you.” 

The Toad lost no time in finding the fairy 
and telling about his friend’s sad plight. 

“I cannot raise him from the ground,” said 
the fairy sadly, “for my powers are not so great 
as those of the witch. “But,” she added bright- 
ening, “I can grant him any other wish.” 

When they told the Potato he cried: 

“Oh fairy, give me eyes that I may see, and 
protect my body from the earth.” 

And instantly the Potato was covered with 
an outer rough brown skin and was given a 
dozen or more eyes. 

So the Potato lived happily ever afterwards. 
Do not pity him. Although he has never since 
been king he is quite satisfied with his duties as 
special policeman keeping order among the un- 
derground vegetables. 

14 




THE BAD LITTLE TWIN 

O NCE upon a time a fairy was condemned to 
wander about in the guise of a very ugly 
dog until some mortal should show her a 
kindness. Day after day she went from house 
to house looking wistfully in door-ways and 
wagging her tail in a most friendly manner. 
But all the children, frightened at the sight of 
her ugly face, ran away, and then the grown- 
ups would come out, and chase her. Poor 
fairy! She was beginning to despair when one 
day a kind lady felt sorry and offered her food. 
So soon as she was given the food the fairy was 
changed back into her rightful shape; filled 
with gratitude she offered to grant the good 
woman any wish she might make. This lady 
had two baby girls, twins who looked as like 
as two peas in a pod, and she loved them very 
dearly. So she asked the fairy to give each 
baby a little “magic” that they might be better 
able to protect themselves from harm. The 
fairy agreed. So the mother took one of the 
twins from the cradle and held it in her arms 
15 


while the fairy opened a tiny locket which she 
wore about her neck and shook out a few 
grains of “magic” which she sprinkled over 
the baby. 

Now the mother was so happy and thrilled 
over the wonderful gift the fairy was bestowing 
on her children that when she laid the first child 
back in the cradle and reached for the other 
twin, she, in her excitement picked up the same 
baby! 

A little magic is all very well but no one can 
fail to be affected by an overdose! It was no- 
ticed after the fairy’s visit that one little twin 
became very peevish and hard to manage; and 
when she grew older she was so naughty and 
played so many mean tricks on people, she was 
nicknamed by all, “Naughty-Etta.” 

Many tears the poor mother shed over this 
child’s mad pranks! 

One day to punish Naughty-Etta after she 
had been particularly annoying, fighting with 
her sister and throwing stones at the cat, her 
mother locked her in the closet. 

Naughty-Etta beat her fists angrily upon the 
door and kicked and screamed until she was ex- 
hausted and fell in a little heap on the floor. 
At first it was so dark in there Naughty-Etta 
couldn’t see a hand before her face but gradu- 
ally her eyes grew accustomed to it and she 
could see quite well. As she lay on the closet 
floor and watched the light stream in, thru the 
key hole, she saw a fly crawl to the opening and 
flit airily away. 

16 



“I wish,” thought Naughty-Etta very hard 
and fiercely, “I were a fly and could escape 
from this old closet!” 

No sooner had she made the wish than she 
was changed into a fly! At first Naughty-Etta 
was so frightened at finding herself actually a 
fly, she could not move but after a few minutes 
she flew up to the key hole and walked thru. 
She flew into the kitchen where her mother was 
making a pie and buzzed and buzzed around 
her head until her mother almost went crazy 
and dropped her baking to look for fly-paper. 

Feeling rather thirsty Naughty-Etta then 
alighted beside the cat’s saucer of milk and 
while she was refreshing herself slipped on the 
edge and fell in! As she struggled there in the 
middle of the saucer, the milk almost choking 
her and her wings getting heavier every min- 
ute, the cat appeared from around the corner. 

“Oh,” she cried in terror as she saw him com- 
ing, “I wish 1 were myself again safe in the 
closet!” And immediately she found herself 
back, sitting in the dark closet. 

Now after Naughty-Etta discovered she had 
the power to change into different shapes, she 
became worse than ever. She was continually 
appearing before the cat as a fat delectable 
mouse and leading him a merry chase thru the 
fields. When he was thoroughly exhausted she 
would change into herself again and howl with 
delight at the cat’s puzzled expression. Some- 
times when she saw a group of boys passing the 
17 



pond on their way to school, she would quickly 
become a big fish and splash back and forth in 
the water to attract their attention. And the 
boys seeing her forgot about school and rushed 
for their fishing rods. 

One day the teacher took the children for a 
a picnic in the woods. The children were de- 
lighted; it was late spring and the woods were 
filled with all sorts of fascinating flowers, trail- 
ing arbutus, annemones, pussy-willows. While 
some helped unpack the basket of delicious 
lunch they had brought with them and arrange 
it under a great pine, others skipped about gath- 
ering wild flowers. 

One little girl saw a bright red flower a short 
distance beyond the pine and ran to add it to 
her collection. But when she reached the spot 
it had disappeared and waved gaily ahead. 
And so, the little girl ran further and further 
into the woods, the bright flower always ap- 
pearing just beyond her. As you may have 
guessed the pretty flower was none other than 
Naughty-Etta who finally disappeared leaving 
the poor child lost in the forest. 

“Where is little Annabelle?” asked the 
teacher, as they sat down to eat. No one knew. 
Immediately the distracted teacher and her 
pupils started to look for the missing child. By 
the time they found the weeping Annabelle it 
had grown dark in the woods and the disap- 
pointed children had to hurry home without 
18 



having tasted a single sandwich! Naughty-Etta 
had succeeded in spoiling the picnic. 

One night the fairy appeared again before 
the mother as she was crying over the naughti- 
ness of her child. 

“Why do you weep, dear lady?” asked the 
fairy tenderly. Then the mother told her about 
Naughty-Etta, and the fairy knew instantly 
she must have given Naughty-Etta a double 
dose of magic which had caused the trouble. 

“I’m afraid that some day she may do great 
harm!” sobbed the mother. 

“Have no fear,” replied the fairy kindly. “I 
shall change her so she shall do no more harm.” 

The fairy lifted Naughty-Etta from her bed 
where she lay sleeping soundly and carried her 
out of the house. Placing her gently on a flat 
moss covered rock, the fairy murmured some 
magic words and instantly Naughty-Etta be- 
came a roaring water-fall! 

Naughty-Etta Falls are still to be found near 
Naughty-Etta’ s old home. Day after day, year 
after year, they dash down ceaselessly and 
bubble and foam over the rocks below. 

It is interesting to watch them; but you must 
be careful not to stand too close to the tum- 
bling waters (especially if you are dressed in 
your Sunday clothes) for sometimes a heavy 
spray rises from the falls and drenches you. 

19 



THE SAND GUARD 


W HEN Buddy had finished he rubbed the 
sand from his hands and surveyed his 
castle with pride. It really looked like 
the one he had seen in the picture-book. There 
was the high sand wall surrounding the castle 
too, and an imposing entrance which had been 
made thru the wall with great difficulty. No 
wonder Buddy was a bit elated over this work 
of art. 

“Gather up your things, Buddy,” called 
Mother from under the big striped umbrella 
where she had been reading. “It’s growing 
late. We must start back.” 

“Oh Mother, just another minute, please,” 
begged Buddy anxiously. “I’ve got to make a 
man to guard my castle.” 

“Well, hurry dear!” 

Buddy moistened some more sand and in a 
few minutes had moulded a very solid-looking 
sandman at the entrance to the castle grounds. 
“Ready, Buddy?” 

“Almost!” Buddy tied a piece of seaweed 
20 


round the guard’s neck for a tie, stuck a clam 
shell on his head, and the sandman was com- 
plete. Just before he departed Buddy picked 
up a twig and tucked it under the guard’s arm. 

“That’s your gun,” he informed him. “Mind 
you take good care of my castle.” The sand- 
man nodded gravely but Buddy didn’t see him 
because he had already started running up the 
beach after his mother. 

The Sandman watched the sun sink slowly 
into the sea, and before its rays had entirely 
disappeared, saw the round pale moon rise 
from the same waters and cast her silvery light 
upon the dancing waves. It was very pleasant 
on the beach tonight, the Sandman thought; 
and every time he looked upon the castle show- 
ing so plainly in the moonlight he felt very 
proud indeed that he should be guarding it. 

Two sand crabs stopped and looked thru the 
gateway on their way down the beach. 

“What a magnificent castle,” said the one to 
the other. “Do you suppose we might wander 
thru the grounds?” The Guard gave them per- 
mission and they hurried in. But you may be 
sure the Sand Guard kept an eye on them as 
they crawled about, and saw that they be- 
haved themselves and wrought no distruction 
on Buddy’s castle. 

As the Guard watched the sand crabs disap- 
pear down the beach he saw a man and girl 
strolling toward him deeply engaged in conver- 
sation; they were so busily talking they didn’t 
21 


look where they were going and as they were 
headed straight for the castle, the Sand Guard 
coughed very discreetly. The girl looked down 
suddenly and saw the sand castle. 

“See, Jim,” she cried, stopping her compan- 
ion abruptly. “Some child’s ‘castle’! Don’t 
let’s destroy it.” And they went round it. 
Then the Sand Guard felt more important than 
ever for he believed he had saved the castle. 

Suddenly a terrific barking was heard and a 
great big collie dog came pounding down the 
beach. 

“Hi, hi there!” shouted the Sand Guard ex- 
citedly, for the castle lay directly in the dog’s 
path. But the dog didn’t hear him and came 
leaping on nearer and nearer. 

“Stop — oh do stop,” faltered the Sand Guard 
weakly, for he was terribly frightened now, 
seeing the huge monster almost upon him. The 
collie kept on running, ploughing up the sand 
as he went and when complete destruction 
seemed certain the Sandman shut his eyes and 
tremblingly waited for the blow to fall. But 
the dog took a flying leap over the castle, Sand- 
man and all, and went on tearing up the beach. 

“Oh, what a narrow escape!” gasped the 
shivering Sandman when he opened his eyes. 
Indeed he was so overcome by the terrible 
fright he had had that he failed to notice a large 
sea-gull approaching; consequently the gull 
walked too close to one of the entrance posts 
and knocking it with her wing, tumbled down 
the archway. 


22 


“Clumsy fool!” shrieked the Sand Guard 
furiously after the departing sea gull. And 
many other harsh things he shouted at her in 
his rage. But the sea gull didn’t hear him and 
went on, ignorant of the damage she had done. 

When his rage had subsided he stood for a 
long time staring gloomily at the sea thru the 
ruined archway. The moon was higher in the 
heavens now but it was not so clear; dark 
clouds had gathered and drifted slowly across 
the face of the moon. Once the Sandman 
couldn’t see the moon for a long, long time and 
believed that it had disappeared for ever — but 
it finally peeped out again. The wind was 
blowing harder too; the Sand Guard’s seaweed 
tie flapped madly in the breeze and sprays from 
the sea splashed on his face. 

Suddenly he realized that the waves were 
breaking perilously near the castle. Very in- 
dignantly he shook his gun at them. 

“Stop where you are,” he shouted. “You 
dare not come any further. This is private 
property!” But the merry waves only laughed 
at him and splashed nearer and nearer. The 
Sand Guard almost burst with fury. 

“Keep away,” he screamed, “or I’ll shoot.” 
And he lifted his gun to his shoulder. At that 
the waves laughed harder than ever. 

“Ha, ha!” they scoffed. “You can’t shoot. 
You haven’t any bullets!” 

Alas, this was only too true. Buddy had for- 

23 



gotten to provide ammunition. What was a 
poor Sandman to do? 

“I’ll beat you with my gun!” shrieked the 
Sandman desperately. 

“Tush, tush, tush, how the man talks,” 
mocked the waves creeping still nearer. “This 
is our playground and we’re dancing here to- 
night.” 

The Sandman threw down his gun, waved 
his arms, shouted, and stamped his feet in a 
frenzy of rage. But the waves were almost 
upon him now. 

“One, two, three,” they shouted, and 
swooped down on him. They knocked off his 
clam shell hat, tore his beautiful seaweed tie, 
and carried him gaily out to sea. 

The next day Buddy hurried down the beach 
and found his castle in ruins. But he didn’t cry. 
He got out his pail and shovel and started to 
build a new castle. 

“I’ll make a much better guard for this 
castle,” he confided to his mother. “That other 
one was no good.” 

And the poor Sand Guard? 

What was left of him lay on the sea bed be- 
neath the waters; but he could hear Buddy’s 
thoughtless words and shed salty tears. 

Then one of Neptune’s fairy daughters who 
presided over that part of the sea, gathered him 
up and carried him far away to tropical waters. 

24 


“Such faithfulness as yours will not go unre- 
warded,” the sea fairy assured him. She blew 
on a cockle shell and in an instant was sur- 
rounded by hundreds of large oysters! The 
Sand Guard who had never seen an oyster, 
turned pale. 

“Do not be afraid,” said the fairy. “These 
are my friends who will transform your poor 
shattered body into pearls!” 

And at her command each oyster took very 
gently one grain of sand. 

Long afterwards some fishermen discovered 
the oysters; and on opening them they found 
an exquisite pearl in each shell. The pearls 
were made into a beautiful necklace and one 
day were put on sale in a New York jewelry 
shop. 

Now I come to the strangest part of my story. 

Who do you suppose bought the necklace? 
You can never, never guess! It was Buddy who 
in the meantime had grown to be a man. He 
presented them to his mother one Christmas 
Eve. 

“They’re wonderful,” said Buddy’s mother 
as she fingered the delicate gems. “And to 
think that once upon a time each pearl was only 
a grain of sand!” 

But little did she dream that years ago those 
grains of sand had formed part of Buddy’s old 
Sand Guard. 


THE BOY WHO GREW 


O NCE upon a time there were two brothers 
who lived in the heart of a dense forest. 
The elder was named “Baub” and the 
younger “Kan.” A better looking lad than 
Baub would have been hard to find; he was tall, 
handsome and strong. No one could swing an 
axe more vigorously than he; his arrows never 
fell short of their mark; and when the brothers 
swam in the quiet stream that flowed thru the 
clearing, and raced each other to the opposite 
bank, it was always Baub’s curly black head 
that was lifted first from the waters as he tri- 
umphantly scrambled ashore. 

Kan was not quite so handsome as his 
brother; his hair was not so black nor was he 
very tall or strong, but he entered into all work 
and sports joyously and gloried in the superb 
strength of his older brother. You would have 
liked Kan. 

Every morning at cock’s crow the brothers 
would rise and go to work on the farm their 
father had given them; it was not hard work; 
the ground was very fertile and seemed to re- 
quire little care. Whatever the brothers 
planted grew quickly and abundantly. Such 
potatoes! Such corn! The lima beans fairly 
dripped with juice and the strawberries grew 
large as hen’s eggs. No, I’m sure you never 
saw such vegetables and fruit even at the 
County Fair! And even more wonderful were 
26 



the weeds — or rather, were not — for miracu- 
lous to tell nary a weed ever pushed its way 
into the brothers’ garden. So you can under- 
stand that their work was not arduous. 

Every noon-day, Baub and Kan had berries 
with milk and rested under the big linden that 
shaded the back porch. 

One day as they were resting there idly 
watching the flowers sway gently in the wind, 
they were attracted by the unusual tossing of a 
particularly large daisy which blew wildly in 
the very mild breeze. They watched it dip its 
head to the ground first on one side, then on the 
other, and jerk up quickly only to fall again. 
After several such convulsions Baub and Kan 
were astonished to see the yellow center of the 
flower apparently rend itself free from the 
petals and push upward; and in the twinkling 
of an eye that yellow center was seen to slide 
down the stem, poise a few seconds on a leaf 
and then leap to the ground! 

It was a most extraordinary proceeding. 
Baub and Kan sat up, rubbed their eyes and 
looked at each other in bewilderment. At their 
feet stood the queerest little fellow imaginable. 
He could just manage to peep over the top of 
Kan’s boot; his body was little wider than the 
stems of the flowers in the field whence he had 
come and he was green from head to foot — ex- 
cept his hair (if hair indeed it was; his head 
was covered with a bright yellow fuzzy mass 
of something) . 



27 


He bowed very low and spoke in soft sing- 
song tones. 

‘‘Baub and Kan, I come with a message.” 
And so saying, the green gnome stooped down 
and drew from his left slipper a bit of green 
paper, the size of a postage stamp. His tiny 
fingers continued to unfold it until he finally 
held a goodly sized note before the boys’ eyes. 
They timidly took it from him and read in gold 
letters: 

“A most beautiful fairy princess awaits you 
at the outer edge of the forest. Make your way 
to her.” 

“Tell us more,” began Baub and stopped 
short. Gnome and message had vanished. 

Up sprang Kan and reached for his axe. 
“Come brother,” he cried, ‘‘let us start to make 
our way thru the forest!” 

All that day the brothers worked hard chop- 
ping trees and hewing down the thick under- 
brush in the dark recesses of the forest until the 
setting sun called them from their task. 

Sunrise of the following day found them 
swinging the sharpened steel with renewed 
vigor. By the new moon they had succeeded 
in making a trail that seemed pitifully short 
considering their long days of toil. Baub re- 
garded it and his swollen muscles with dissatis- 
fied eyes. 

‘‘Come Kan,” he urged, sinking wearily on 
a tree stump, ‘‘let us give up this foolish quest.” 

‘‘No, no,” protested his brother. 

28 


“If she who waits us be indeed a fairy prin- 
cess with magic powers, how much easier for 
her to come to us,” argued Baub craftily. But 
Kan was not to be dissuaded and encouraged 
his brother to continue. 

Thru the hard months of winter they made 
little progress but each day saw the trail grow- 
ing longer, inch by inch stretching toward the 
outer forest. 

Then suddenly Baub took a definite stand. 

“I’m thru,” he declared to Kan as he and his 
brother trudged homeward at dusk after their 
day in the depths of the wood. “Why should I 
toil day after day for something I’ve never seen 
when I might be enjoying myself in the stream 
or resting in the cool shade of our linden. 

“Do not speak so,” begged Kan anxiously, 
“to-morrow you will feel differently, my 
brother.” 

But Baub shook his head doggedly. 

“Our father left us this fertile farm which 
supplies all our needs, why should we not be 
content?” 

Kan argued in vain; the next day he worked 
alone on the trail. 

Months passed by. One day Kan came run- 
ning home quivering with excitement. “Broth- 
er, brother,” he panted, “I must be nearing the 
forest’s edge for to-day I heard her voice.” 

Naturally even Baub was thrilled at the great 
news. He offered to accompany Kan and see 
whether he too could hear the voice of the beau- 
tiful fairy princess. 



29 


Now a very strange thing happened. When 
Baub reached that part of the trail upon which 
Kan alone had worked, he found it impassable. 
Try as he would he could not force his way 
thru. Kan turned back to see his brother beat- 
ing his arms against thin air. 

“I can’t get thru,” he cried to Kan. 

“But it is cleared,” called back Kan, greatly 
puzzled. 

“I tell you it isn’t,” retorted his brother, 
struggling until the veins in his neck and fore- 
head threatened to burst. 

So Kan came back and together they talked 
over this amazing feature of the woods. 

“You must hew your own way thru,” Kan 
finally decided, and urged Baub to return for 
his axe. But in the months since he had dis- 
continued his work in the forest Baub had lost 
his skill with the axe and the idea of resuming 
his labors did not appeal to him. 

He shrugged his shoulders. 

“I am content where I am.” 

And Kan sorrowfully left him. 

Soon after his experience in the woods Baub 
made another discovery. 

“Kan,” he said one evening, looking at his 
brother curiously, “I believe you’ve grown dur- 
ing the past year. You must be tall as I.” And 
when they stood shoulder to shoulder it was 
seen that Kan ( topped his brother by an half 
head! They compared muscles. Baub shook 
his head gloomily. 


30 


After that it was seen day by day as Kan’s 
strength increased, his brother’s power rapidly 
diminished and he grew smaller and smaller in 
stature until he soon was no larger than the 
little green gnome who had brought the mes- 
sage about the princess. 

Of course Kan was deeply grieved over his 
brother’s condition. He made him tiny farm 
implements that suited his wee hands and urged 
him to do whatever he was able, in hope of re- 
gaining his strength. But Baub was always too 
tired to make the effort. 

One evening Kan emerged from the woods, 
his eyes shining. 

“To-morrow, dear brother, I reach the end of 
the woods!” 

Before the shadows of the night had fairly 
lifted Kan set forth. 

“To-night you shall see her, my brother. I 
shall bring her back with me.” 

And true to his promise Kan appeared at 
sunset, leading by the hand a most exquisite 
creature. 

But where was Baub? 

Kan looked everywhere for him. He even 
searched the flowers, for of late Baub had been 
wont to nap in the morning glory blossoms. 

But Baub was never found. The fairy prin- 
cess discovered his little suit on a nasturtium 
plant — but that was all! 

Of course Kan married the beautiful princess 
and built her a wonderful castle outside the 
woods where they both lived happily ever after. 

31 



WHITEY’S VANITY 


L ITTLE WHITEY lived in a green rabbit 
hutch in a city backyard, with his two big 
brothers, Blackie and Brownie. 

Now Whitey was a very nice bunny but he 
worried foolishly over his size and especially 
over his pale color and cast many envious 
glances at his strong dark brothers. The boys 
who owned the rabbits loved Whitey and con- 
sidered his snowy white fur very handsome, 
but silly little Whitey thought that if he only 
had a dark coat like his brothers the boys would 
be better pleased with him. 

“Blackie is so good-looking,” sighed Whitey, 
one day. “What wouldn’t I give for such a 
shiny black coat!” 

“You talk very foolishly,” chided Brownie. 
“Why be so dissatisfied with yourself?” 

“It isn’t for myself alone I wish it,” protested 
Whitey. “I’m sure the boys would like me 
much better if I were dark like Blackie.” 

“Nonsense! You know they like you as you 
are. Besides, a black coat wouldn’t become 
you.” 

Whitey was silenced but not convinced. It 
was a few days after this conversation had 
taken place that the boys’ family began to 
house-clean, outside as well as in. Their brown- 
stone stoop was scraped and sanded to look like 
new; all the shabby places about the sills and 
roof were carefully retouched and the wooden 
32 


fence which separated the boys’ yard from the 
one next door, entirely rebuilt. 

“Our repairs have made a decided improv- 
ment,” remarked the boys’ mother to their 
father, with great satisfaction. 

“Yes,” agreed father, “but there are a few 
more things which need attention. I notice 
that large iron flower urn near the rabbits’ cage 
needs a coat of paint badly.” 

“Let us paint it,” begged the boys. So the 
next day the first black coat was given the urn. 
You may be sure the pot of black paint did not 
escape Whitey’ s bright little eyes. While the 
boys painted he looked longingly at that magic 
pot which was rapidly transforming a rusty un- 
attractive urn into a thing of shining black 
beauty ! Little Whitey did wish the boys would 
leave that paint can in the yard. Much to his 
disappointment, however, they carried the pre- 
cious pot away with them. Whitey was gloom- 
ily pondering over what he considered his ill 
luck when the boys’ cook stepped into the yard. 
Whitey was very fond of Cook, who often 
tempted his appetite with such delicacies as let- 
tuce leaves and young carrots, so he looked up 
expectantly. What he saw, set him quivering 
with excitement and made mere food seem 
relatively unimportant. Cook had left in the 
yard some old cans and among them one round 
black pot and brush that looked very like the 
coveted paint can! Now it was labeled very 
plainly Everready Liquid Stove Polish — but 
33 



Whitey couldn’t read; he only saw that it was 
black and was happy. 

When night found the supposed paint pot still 
in the yard Whitey could hardly realize what 
he considered his good fortune. He didn’t say 
a word to Blackie or Brownie but waited until 
they were both snoring loudly and then slipped 
quietly out of the hutch thru a hole in the wire 
the boys were always intending to mend. 

Having reached his goal, the problem arose 
how to apply the sticky black liquid to his coat. 
After several unsuccessful attempts to do it 
himself he decided to wake Brownie or Blackie 
and beg them to help for there was too little of 
the mixture left in the pot to waste. But he felt 
almost sure that Brownie would disapprove 
and that Blackie would probably act very cross 
at being awakened from a sound sleep. 

It was maddening to be so near one’s heart’s 
desire and fail to attain it. Whitey was about 
to risk Blackie’ s temper and was hopping back 
to the hutch when he saw the alley cat. 

Now Whitey had no great love for the alley 
cat; many nights his slumbers had been dis- 
turbed by this misguided creature who thought 
she could sing and persisted in showing off' her 
vocal powers at unearthly hours. But now 
when he discovered her gaunt form moving 
majestically along the top of the fence he could 
have shouted with joy. 

“Pst, pst!’’ 



low who was beckoning wildly, then leaped 
nimbly from fence to flower urn and from urn 
to Whitey and his pot. 

“I’d like very much, if — if you would only — . 
Will you make me b — b — black?” stammered 
Whitey desperately. 

The alley cat raised her eye-brows and 
looked at the rabbit for a few seconds without 
replying. You see she had sung so much in 
public she had acquired a certain amount of 
poise. 

“Make you black?” she drawled inquiringly. 

“Yes! I can show you how.” And Whitey 
picked up the blacking brush between his two 
paws and showed the alley cat how one paints. 

“I’ll do it,” she finally agreed. “I have an 
engagement to sing at midnight but I don’t 
think it will take very long to make you black. 
You’re so small. There, now, stand still!” 

“Oh thank you, Alley Cat!” gasped Whitey 
as the cold black polish trickled down behind 
his ears. “You don’t know how much this 
means to me!” 

Alley Cat worked awhile in silence. "Will 
ou have your face done, too?” she asked, 
rush poised in air. 

"No-oo,” Whitey decided. “Of course I’d 
like to be entirely black like my brother Blackie 
but I’m afraid you might get that stuff on my 
whiskers or up my nose and make me sneeze!” 

“Very well,” said Alley Cat. 

“Don’t you think my brother Blackie is hand- 
some?” inquired Whitey a few minutes later. 

35 



“I suppose he is handsome,” admitted Alley 
Cat as she put the finishing touches on Whitey. 
“But personally I’ve always preferred your 
color — or rather what used to be your color.” 

“Indeed!” Whitey was genuinely surprised 
that anyone could have such poor taste but re- 
frained from saying so and thanked Alley Cat 
very heartily for her services. 

“Won’t Brownie and Blackie be surprised 
when they see me,” chuckled Whitey to him- 
self as he hopped back into the hutch after 
Alley Cat had strolled off to keep her midnight 
appointment. 

When Brownie and Blackie saw Whitey next 
morning they were both surprised and dis- 
gusted. They didn’t say anything but looked 
at Whitey with disapproving eyes, and every- 
time he came near them they hopped away as 
fast as they could to the other end of the hutch. 
Whitey was almost in tears over this strange 
treatment. 

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked 
them finally. “Are you jealous of me?” 

“Jealous!” exploded Blackie and Brownie in 
chorus. “We can’t bear to smell that nasty 
black stuff you’ve smeared over yourself!” 

So poor Whitey became an outcast. But a 
more terrible thing happened when the boys 
found him. 

“Who put that queer-looking rabbit in our 
cage?” demanded the younger regarding 
Whitey with disfavor. 



36 


“He must belong next door. Let’s drop him 
over the fence,’’ suggested the older. And in 
spite of Whitey’s protesting cries, he seized the 
rabbit’s ears, pulled him out of the cage and 
dropped him in the thick privet hedge in the 
adjoining yard. 

Little Whitey was terrified at being left alone 
in a strange place, and the thought that he 
might never again be allowed to play with his 
dear brothers filled him with anguish. How 
he regretted his vanity which was responsible 
for the awful predicament in which he now 
found himself. As he sat huddled there in the 
privet hedge, too frightened to move, two little 
dogs came frolicing out in the yard and discov- 
ered him. Luckily for Whitey the hedge was 
so thick they couldn’t reach him; but they made 
a terrible noise and had to be dragged away by 
the cook who couldn’t imagine what had ex- 
cited the dogs so. 

Poor Whitey, every hair on his body aquiver, 
resolved to dig back to his own yard without 
delay. 

It took him the rest of the day to tunnel un- 
der the fence; when he poked his nose into his 
yard once more it was quite dark, and he could 
hear Brownie and Blackie snoring in their sleep. 
A light rain began to fall but unhappy Whitey 
was afraid to seek shelter in the hutch. There 
he sat peeping out of his tunnel while the rain 
grew heavier and heavier until the water rushed 
down the tunnel in such torrents that he was 
37 



forced to hop out and ran to the flower urn for 
protection. All night long he sat at the base of 
the urn in the pelting rain; and it was there the 
boys found him next morning. 

“Why Whitey, old boy,” exclaimed the 
younger when he saw him, “where have you 
been?” 

“Poor thing,” said the older boy looking at 
Whitey’s wet matted fur, “he’s been out in the 
rain all night!” 

They picked Whitey up and carried him into 
the kitchen where he dried out before the fire 
and was given a warm drink. When Whitey 
felt better the boys put him back in the hutch 
with Brownie and Blackie. 

How Whitey rejoiced to be with his brothers 
again. 

“My black coat will wear off in time,” said 
Whitey, “and when it does I shall be satisfied 
with my own white coat!” Blackie and Brownie 
stared at Whitey. 

“But you’re not black,” they cried. And 
sure enough the rain had washed Whitey clean. 



38 


SANDY’S ADVENTURE 


S ANDY was the curly-haired airedale who 
lived in the big house on the hill and 
aroused envy in the breasts of all the other 
dogs whenever he went walking with his mis- 
tress. It was rumored among the dogs that 
Sandy was a most unusual animal who at- 
tended “shows” and had won “blue ribbons” 
and “medals.” What Sandy had done to win 
all these honors was a source of great mystery 
to them ; this matter was often discussed among 
themselves of a summer evening behind Jur- 
gen’s old barn. But just when the arguments 
were nicely under way some irate person who 
didn’t seem to understand that it was a per- 
fectly friendly little talk they were having was 
sure to appear and put a sudden end to their 
speculations. 

While at heart they really envied Sandy the 
dogs made all sorts of sneering references to 
him. 

“I’m a better fighter than he is,” declared the 
bull-dog with one ear. 

“A sissy dog who wears a blanket when it’s 
cold. I just wish he were here this minute, I’d 
show him a trick or two.” 

“My master says I’m the best hunting dog in 
the country,” boasted the big red setter. I bet 
that dog (he referred scornfully to Sandy) 
wouldn’t have sense enough to bring back the 
game. He’d be afraid of getting his feet wet.” 
39 



One dog called Tramp, however, always took 
Sandy’s part. He was a small black and white 
dog with very kind eyes. 

“I’m sure he’s a good fellow,’’ he would in- 
sist. “I’d like to know him.’’ 

Tramp didn’t live very far from Sandy; his 
^home was on a small farm at the foot of the 
^ hill. Everyday he used to pass Sandy’s house 
on his many trips up and down the hill as he 
^looked about for excitement or a good place to 
|bury bones. Sandy seemed to spend most of 
his time pacing up and down inside a wired en- 
closure, and Tramp with the whole country- 
side to roam thru, felt sorry for Sandy, for all 
his ribbons and medals! One afternoon Tramp 
failing to find anything to interest him in his 
wanderings about the village, hurried up the 
hill to the big house where Sandy was trotting 
up and down in his run-way as usual. Feeling 
very adventuresome Tramp tiptoed over the 
lawn, nearer and nearer Sandy’s “cage.’’ Soon 
Sandy caught sight of him and stood very still 
while Tramp retreated a few paces, rolled over 
and over in the soft grass and pretended not to 
see the other dog watching him. Finally 
Tramp stopped rolling and peeped up at Sandy 
thru his shaggy eye-brows. 

Sandy wagged his tail, slightly, just a wiggle 
or two, but it was all the encouragement 
Tramp needed. He bounded up to the “cage.’’ 
For a few minutes the dogs just looked at 

each other. Then- 

40 



“I’m Sandy York Swell; my mother was 
Lady Jeanne and my father was York Swell II,” 9 
recited Sandy proudly. And Tramp not to be 
outdone in honor after he had recovered from 
Sandy’s lineage, announced: 

“I’m Tramp; I don’t know who my father^ 
was but my mother did tricks in a circus.” 

Sandy looked properly impressed. 

“Can you do any tricks?” he asked politely. 

“Oh, a few,” replied Tramp modestly. “I 
can walk on my hind legs and open a door.” 

"Could you open the door of this cage?” 
asked Sandy thoroughly interested. 

Tramp looked critically at the door at the 
end of the runway and nodded. 

“Let’s see you do it!” barked Sandy excit- 
edly. Thereupon Tramp leaped upon the door 
and raised the latch with the tip of his nose. 
Sandy was filled with admiration. “That’s 
quite a trick,” he remarked as he stepped out. 

“Care to go for a little run?” asked Tramp. 

“Race you to the end of the drive-way!” And 
away the dogs scampered. But when they had 
reached the end of the drive- way, Tramp urged 
his newfound friend to spend the rest of the 
afternoon with him. 

It was an exciting adventure for Sandy. 
Tramp proved a very entertaining guide; he 
showed Sandy about town, unearthed his choic- 
est bones for him and took him for a swim in 
the old mill-pond. 

Late in the afternoon they were back at 


Sandy’s home and Tramp was bidding his 
friend good-day, when a big black brute of a 
dog came snarling up to them. 

At first they paid no attention to him ; but he 
was so offensively rude that he could not be ig- 
nored. Sandy pitched into him first and then 
Tramp joined in to help his friend. They fin- 
ally succeeded in teaching the intruder better 
manners and sent him howling down the lane. 

Sandy was just shaking some of the dust 
from his curls when he caught sight of his mis- 
tress driving to the house in the machine. Bark- 
ing joyously he flew after her. 

“There seems to be an unusual number of 
dogs in this town,’’ remarked Miss Ethel to the 
chauffeur as she alighted. 

“Yes, Miss.’’ 

Then she recognized Sandy and screamed. 

The next day Tramp saw Sandy out walking, 
his leash held very tightly by Miss Ethel. After 
Sandy had passed, smelling of liniment and 
disinfectant, he looked back at Tramp and 
winked. 


42 


t 




FROM RAG’S DIARY 


O-DAY I’ve been “sold!” While I 
playing to-day as usual with my 
friends in our wire cage, the man who al- 
ways feeds us came over and took me out and 
showed me to a man I had never seen before. 
The new man had such a nice face I liked him 
immediately and he seemed to like me, too. He 


was 

little^ 



patted and played with me and asked my 
keeper many questions. While he was talking 
another strange man started to pick me up, say- 
ing someone wished to look at me, but the man 
with the nice face said, “This little dog has just 
been ‘sold’ to me.” After that he talked some 
more and finally he and I left the place to- 
gether. 

I was very much pleased with my new owner 
and hoped we were going to live together for- 
ever, but it seems he is planning to give me 
away! To-night after he had given me my 
supper, he took me on his lap and I watched 
him puff on a queer wooden thing and blow 
clouds of smoke out of his mouth. As I was be- 
ginning to grow drowsy he suddenly seized my 
front paws and looked into my eyes. “Rags, 
my boy,” he cried gaily, “to-morrow I shall 
take you to your mistress — the finest lady in 
the land — God bless her!” So I’m rather 
anxiously awaiting to-morrow when I’m to be 
presented to her! 


43 


To-morrow: 

The day has come and I have met my mis- 
tress. I can understand now why Master is so 
enthusiastic whenever he mentions her. 

It took us a long time to reach Mistress. Be- 
fore we started Master shut me up in a hot, 
stuffy satchel that I hated. I didn’t say any- 
thing at first but I finally had to protest. Then 
Master took me out hurriedly and I found my- 
self on what I have since learned to be a 
“train.” The train didn’t interest me particu- 
larly so I curled up and went to sleep until Mas- 
ter suddenly woke me, crying, “This is our sta- 
tion.” We left the train and there we were in 
the country. 1 shouted for joy. I knew it was 
the country because my mother had described 
it to me many, many times. 

We got into a machine and drove off, I in the 
front seat between Master and the driver, snuf- 
fing in the sweet country air as tho I could 
never get enough of it. We rode in that car 
until we reached a house surrounded by the 
most wonderful grass I’ve ever seen. I know 
I’m going to have a very good time out there — 
but so far I’ve been kept on a leash or allowed 
to play only in front of the house where I can 
be watched. 

Already Mistress is as fond of me as Master 
is! Every time I look at her or wag my tail or 
roll in the grass they both exclaim as if I had 
done something remarkable. I don’t believe 
they’ve ever had a dog before. And they do 
44 


some very strange things! For instance — Mas- 
ter will take a piece of paper out of his pocket 
and write something on it ; then he puts it in my 
mouth while Mistress whistles to me and waves 
a cracker. Naturally I run over to her and drop 
the paper to get it. Mistress reads the paper 
and laughs and then she and Master make such 
a fuss over me I almost choke on my cracker! 

But it’s lots of fun and I’m sure I’m going to 
like living here — only I did feel so sorry when I 
saw Master leave this evening. 

I wonder if I shall ever see him again? 
Another Day. 

I needn’t have worried about not seeing Mas- 
ter again ; he’s been here almost every day. He 
always seems so glad to see me and he, Mistress 
and I have dandy romps on the grass and race 
for sticks — only they get tired long before I do, 
and have to rest. They sit on the piazza steps 
and talk and talk and talk until I get so tired 
listening I fall fast asleep. 

But to-day something queer happened. Mas- 
ter left much earlier than usual and never even 
noticed me! And Mistress left me to myself 
until to-night when she suddenly picked me up 
and put me in the front seat of the car beside 
the chauffeur and ordered him to deliver me 
and an enormous package to “Mr. Hoyt.” 

I usually enjoy riding in Mistress’ little blue 
car but to-night I had a feeling that all was not 
well and felt very much depressed. 

The chauffeur took me back to Master and 
gave him also the big package. I don’t know 




what was in that package because Master didn’t 
open it but threw it in a closet and slammed the 
door. 

I was glad to see Master again but I must ad- 
mit he doesn’t seem like himself. 

He looks very cross; and once he eyed me 
grimly and said: 

“We can be just as stubborn as she can!” 

1 wonder what he meant by that? 

Sometime Later. 

To-day I accompanied Master to the barber’s 
in the village. While I was waiting for him to 
get his shave I looked out the door and whom 
should I see but my Mistress coming out of the 
post-office across the way! 

I dashed out of the barber-shop as quickly as 
I could but before I reached her she had jumped 
into her little blue car and started off. I leaped 
along beside the car barking wildly. Suddenly 
she looked down and saw me. The next thing 
I knew I was lying in her lap and she was cry- 
ing over me as she sat on the curb in front of 
the barber-shop. Master was there too, look- 
ing so funny with a lot of white fuzzy stuff all 
over one side of his face. 1 almost laughed 
aloud. 

“I didn’t see him. I didn’t see him,” Mistress 
kept wailing. “I wouldn’t have hurt him for 
the world!” 

I wasn’t a bit hurt, only stunned but when 1 
saw what a fuss they were making over me I 
pretended I felt very badly. 

46 


After a little while I jumped up to show them 
and a lot of other people who had gathered 
round us, that I was as well as ever. Then Mis- 
tress laughed and laughed and laughed and 
picked me up and told Master she was taking 
me home. 

“I hope you realize what that means!” I 
heard him whisper in her ear. 

“I’ll wait for you outside the drug-store,” 
said Mistress. Master dashed back into the 
barber-shop while we drove to the drug-store 
on the next corner. She took me in the store 
with her and talked to a very tall man who was 
in there. He kept nodding his head at what she 
was saying and finally brought me a big plate 
of the most delicious cold stuff I’d ever tasted. 
When I had finished Mistress wiped off my 
whiskers with her handkerchief and said: 

“Don’t tell Master I gave you ice-cream!” 
Then we got back into her car and very soon 
Master came along. 

“Do you really want me as well as Rags?” 
he asked Mistress softly. 

“Hurry up and get in,” she replied. “We’ll 
be late for dinner!” 

Master hopped in quickly and we drove home 
together. 

I’m feeling a bit queer to-night. I guess I ate 
too much of that “ice-cream” or maybe those 
tid-bits Master slipped me at dinner when no 
one was looking, weren’t so good for me. 




AFTER THE BAWL 

L ITTLE Maria pounced into Morgan’s barn, 
her fur bristling with excitement. 

“Marmarr, Marmarr,” she purred softly 
so as not to frighten away the mice in case her 
mother should be hunting. 

Mother Puss appeared from behind an old 
farm wagon and Maria jumped over to her in 
a series of loops. 

“Well, well, my dear,’’ said Mrs. Puss, 
smoothing down Maria’s fur, “what has hap- 
pened to upset you so? Has ‘Nicky’ been chas- 
ing you again?’’ 


48 


“Oh dear Marmarr, I’ve just been invited to 
the ‘Cats’ Bawl’ at Manton’s to-night!” 

Mrs. Puss shook her head disapprovingly. 
“You’re only a kitten, my child,” she said, “and 
are too young for ‘bawls.’ ” 

Maria’s whiskers trembled and her green 
eyes filled with tears. 

“Oh Marmarr,” she meowed piteously, 
“Cousin Eileen and Larry are going and be- 
sides I told Tommy I would go with him!” 

And just then Tommy looked in the door- 
way. 

“Do let her go, Mrs. Puss,” he urged. “I’ll 
take good care of her and see that she gets 
home early.” 

Tommy looked so dignified in his shining 
black suit with the white shirt front and 
pleaded so hard that Mrs. Puss finally relented 
and gave her consent. 

Maria leapt in the air for joy and danced all 
over the barn floor on her little white toes. 

“I’ll call for you at eight,” Tommy told her 
and departed. 

Maria was so excited over the “bawl” that 
she scarcely touched the saucer of milk Betty 
brought her that evening. She washed her 
face at least a dozen times and pranced about 
the barn until her mother had to remonstrate. 

“You’ll be tired out before you get there,” 
said Mrs. Puss. “Do lie quietly until Tommy 
comes.” 

“Do you think it’s nearly eight o’clock?” 
asked Maria flopping down on some hay. 

49 


“Yes! Now do calm yourself!” 

After several minutes Maria sprang up again. 

“It must be after eight! I’m going to look 
out and see whether I can see him coming.” 

The kitten ran from the barn and stood on 
the run-way and peered out. She saw several 
cats stroll by chatting merrily; but no one 
turned into Morgan’s place. The Cricket or- 
chestra passed followed by more cats — but no 
Tommy. What could be keeping him? 

Kitty pattered back to her mother. 

“Oh dear,” she wailed, “I shall certainly be 
late for the bawl! Why doesn’t he come?” 

Soon Maria knew that the bawl had actually 
started because she could hear the cats yowling 
in the distance. Tears glistened in her eyes. 
Then it grew later and later and later! Tears 
fell from Maria’s eyes and splashed on the barn 
floor. “Meow, meow,” she sobbed. 

Her mother tried to comfort her and told her 
there would be other bawls but Maria was 
heartbroken. Every time she heard the cats’ 
voices, she wept afresh at the thought of all 
she was missing. 

“I’ll never speak to Tommy Cat again, as 
long as I live,” swore Maria as she finally 
curled herself up in a damp little ball and tried 
to sleep. 


In the meantime poor little Tommy was hav- 
ing his troubles. 

He had started out gaily for Maria shortly be- 
50 


fore eight. Just as he turned into Ocean Ave- 
nue, a great big dog pounced out very suddenly 
from the house on the corner and barking at 
him fiercely, started to chase him down the 
avenue. Tommy was so frightened that he 
sprang up the nearest tree very quickly and be- 
fore he knew it, found himself clinging to one 
of the top-most branches. 

The dog circled ’round the tree excitedly and 
jumped so high he turned somersaults back- 
ward! 

After a few minutes the owner came out 
looking for his dog and dragged him home. But 
Tommy’s troubles were not over. He soon 
discovered that he was up so high in the tree he 
was afraid to come down alone! If there were 
only someone to help him. 

He meowed wildly whenever any other cats 
passed. But they were all on their way to the 
bawl and chatting so loudly among themselves 
they didn’t hear him. 

He shrieked for Maria. 

“Maria i yah, Maria i yah!’’ he yodeled. But 
as you know she did not hear. Then he called 
for his mother but she was too far away. 

The next morning, very early, Tommy’s 
mother went out to look for her missing boy 
and started for Maria’s house feeling very 
angry indeed that Tommy had stayed out all 
night. Suddenly as she turned into Ocean Ave- 
nue she heard his voice and glancing up discov- 
ered him in the tree-top, weeping. She ran up 


and brought Tommy down. Then Tommy told 
her what had happened and how he had missed 
the “bawl” and could never face Maria again. 

Tommy’s mother felt very sorry for him. But 
she urged him to call on Maria without delay 
and explain matters. Tommy didn’t want to 
go but his mother persuaded him it was the 
only thing to do and gave him a two-pound box 
of delicious Mouse-Tails to present to Maria 
for a peace offering. 

At first, as he had expected, Maria was very 
angry and twitched her tail violently when she 
saw him coming. 

But Tommy was very humble and looked so 
utterly wretched that Maria finally listened to 
his story and accepted his mother’s present. 

When Tommy’s mother peeped in at Mor- 
gan’s on her way home she saw Maria and 
Tommy friends once more nibbling mouse-tails 
under the old oak. 

52 



MARIA CATCHES A MOUSE 


M ARIA was in the barn having her first les- 
son in “Mouse Catching.” 

“There are three important rules to re- 
member,” said Mrs. Puss. “The first is, ‘Be 
Quiet.’ ” 

“That’s easy to remember,” broke in Maria. 
“What’s the next one?” 

“The second rule,” went on Mother Puss very 
slowly and impressively, “is, ‘Be Quiet.’ ” 
Maria lifted her eyebrows in surprise. “And 
the third rule is ‘Be Quiet,’ ” she paused. “As 
for the movements required to catch the 
mouse,” she continued, “I think you have al- 
ready mastered them very well. Now pretend 
I’m a mouse and show how you would attack 
me.” 

Maria crouched very low. Never taking her 
bright green eyes off mother she tiptoed slowly 
on her soft little cushioned feet until she was in 
a good position to spring upon her. Then she 
leapt suddenly and caught Mrs. Puss ’round the 
left hind leg. There she clung, her sharp claws 
protruding from the cushion toes until her 
mother laughingly shook herself free. 

“Good! Very good,” said Mrs. Puss approv- 
ingly. And Maria rolled over on the hay with 
delight at her success. 

“No more lessons until to-morrow. Now run 
and play.” 


“I’ll go out and practise,’’ cried Maria who 
was very enthusiastic about this new sport. 

Mother Puss nodded. 

“Practise makes perfect,’’ she quoted. 

So Maria ran from the barn and spent a 
glorious afternoon chasing leaves that had 
blown from the trees and bushes. 

“Maria is the friskiest kitten we ever had,’’ 
remarked Little Boy Jimmy to his sister Betty. 
And Betty agreed. 

A few days after Maria’s first lesson she ac- 
tually caught a mouse! 

Mrs. Puss had gone to hunt behind the barn 
and Maria had just settled herself for a nap 
when suddenly she heard — scratch — scratch — 
scratch — scratch — scratch — scratch . Maria’s 

eyes snapped wide open but remembering her 
mother’s warning to keep quiet, she lay very 
still. The scratching continued about two min- 
utes and then stopped. 

Maria lifted her head cautiously and caught 
sight of a mouse, wriggling from a hole in the 
barn floor. First a tiny nose, a few white whis- 
kers and a pair of bright eyes appeared, fol- 
lowed by a small gray body and a very long 
tail. 

Maria’s heart skipped a beat. She had never 
felt so excited. 

Without hesitation the little mouse ran 
straight to Maria’s milk bowl and sniffed all 
around it. Finding nothing to appease her ap- 
petite, she then scampered away in the direc- 
54 



N 


N 


tion of the corn bin. There she found some- 
thing delicious and settled herself for an en- 
joyable meal. 

In the meantime Maria was impatiently bid- 
ing her time. She waited until the mouse was 
fully occupied with her dinner and then began 
creeping nearer and nearer until at last she was 
able to make the final spring. 

Kerplop! Maria’s paw came down so hard 
and swiftly that Mousie didn’t even have time 
to swallow and almost choked on a kernel of 
grain. 

As soon as Mousie recovered her breath she 
began to plead with Maria to let her go. 

“I’m so young,” she said with tears in her 
eyes. 

But Maria only held her tighter. 

“There is scarcely a mouthful on me,” wailed 
Mousie. “I’m the thinnest of my family.” 

“Marmarr, Marmarr,” called Maria loudly. 
"Come quickly!” 

Mother Puss jumped into the barn thru a 
back window and rushed to Maria. 

“See!” fairly shrieked Maria, “I caught it 
myself!” 

“Well, well,” ejaculated Mother Puss. “I’m 
very proud of you.” 


May I show it to 



Tommy? Please!” 

Mother Puss looked doubtful. 

“I’m afraid you’ll lose it if you carry it about 


trying to find Tommy,” she said. “You had 
better stay here with Mousie and I’ll send 
Tommy to you.” 

“Thank you, Marmarr. An’ please hurry!” 
Mother Puss had scarcely gotten out of sight 
when Maria heard the old familiar scratch — 
scratch — scratch. Scratch — scratch — scratch. 
“Oh dear ” thought Maria very much vexed. 
“Here comes another mouse and there’s no one 
to catch it. How provoking!” 

Out of the same hole thru which the first 
one had come, crept a second mouse. And 
such a mouse! 

Maria’s eyes opened wide when she saw him. 

He was fully twice as long as Mousie I and 
fat and round as a butter ball. Maria couldn’t 
remember when she had seen a more tempting 
morsel. 

Mousie II seemed to sense immediately that 
Maria couldn’t chase him and ambled back and 
forth under her very nose, staring at her im- 
pudently. 

“Brother, brother, help me,” cried Mousie I 
upon catching sight of him. 

But Brother Mouse continued to stroll about 
with pretended indifference to his poor sister 
who lay helpless beneath Maria’s paws. 

Once when he was directly in front of Maria 
he turned a somersault. Yes, this very fat 
mouse who looked far from agile, threw his 
hind legs high over his head, gave a mighty 
heave and came down again on all fours while 
56 


Maria gaped in astonishment. After this feat, 
apparently exhausted, he curled up within a 
foot of Maria and pretended to fall fast asleep. 

It was almost more than cat nature could en- 
dure! Maria gazed enviously at Brother Mouse 
and regarded his scrawny sister, with increas- 
ing disgust. 

Then out of the corner of her eye Maria 
caught sight of Mrs. Maltese, a friend of her 
mother’s, entering the barn! 



Brother Mouse had his back turned and Mrs. 
Maltese was stealthfully advancing on him 
when Maria in her excitement at seeing this 
bold young mouse about to be caught, forgot 
her mother’s warning and squealed aloud! Up 
hopped Brother Mouse and away he dashed 
while Maria let Mousie go to help Mrs. Maltese 
capture Brother. 



57 


Run, sister, run,” shouted Mousie II as he 
scampered off pursued by Mrs. M. and Maria. 
His sister popped down the hole in the twink- 
ling of an eye and a few seconds later was 
joined by her crafty brother. Together they 
peeped from the hole and laughed at Maria’s 
discomfort. 

Mrs. Maltese turned on Maria, her eyes blaz- 
ing angrily. 

“I would have had him but for your silly 
squealing! Hasn’t your mother ever told you 
that you must be quiet when mouse-hunting?” 
she asked indignantly. 

“Yes’m, she has,” Maria tearfully admitted 
as Mrs. Maltese flounced off. 

When Mrs. Puss and Tommy appeared they 
found Maria still weeping. 

“I — I lost it,” sobbed Maria. 

“Too bad,” said Mother Puss consolingly. 

“How did it happen?” Tommy asked. 

Maria told her story. 

“Never mind, Maria, you’ll catch others,” 
purred Tommy. “Come to the ‘bawl’ with me 
to-night and you’ll forget your disappoint- 
ment.” 


Maria did go to the “bawl” that night and 
had a most wonderful time. A few days later 
she caught another mouse as fine as any cat 
could wish for, and eventually became one of 
the greatest mousers on Long Island. 


58 



HAZEL EYE’S REVENGE 


H AZEL EYE walked into his box-stall, and 
when the groom had closed the door and 
left the stable, threw back his head and 
burst out laughing. He was so overcome with 
merriment that for several minutes he couldn’t 
get his breath to answer the eager questions of 
the other horses. 

“Sh, sh,” cautioned the old gray mare, 
“you’ll have the stable boy back here to see 
what the trouble is!” 

“What happened?” “Do tell us!” came 
quickly from either side of him. 

Hazel Eye, still chuckling, licked a tear from 
the side of his nose. Then he shook himself: 

“You know what my reputation is in the rid- 
ing school,” he looked at them inquiringly. 

“Well,” he went on, “you don’t know how 
sick and tired I get sometimes of being led out 
for beginners and of hearing the riding master 
forever telling how gentle I am!” Hazel Eye 
snorted at the recollection. 

"This morning I wasn’t feeling particularly 
well because the rats had kept me awake most 
of the night, and I was longing for a good 
snappy trot thru the park. So when the groom 
led me out and I heard the riding master say in 
his most encouraging tones that a ‘child could 
handle me,’ I knew it meant another beginner 
and felt distinctly peevish. 


59 



“Generally I don’t mind beginners. I’m na- 
turally sympathetic and feel sorry for them. 
And I’m good-natured — but there are limits! 
When I saw the would-be rider I felt I was be- 
ing imposed upon! I haven’t seen such a fat 
person since my days with the circus! 

“He clambered upon my back and heaving 
a great sigh, settled himself, while I glared at 
the riding master who continued to sing my 
praises in the fat person’s ear. Then, having 
raised my rider’s hopes to the highest pitch, he 
leaped on ‘King Coles’ ’ back, and we were off ! 

“We walked as far as the entrance to the 
park. By the time we got there the confidence 
of my rider in his ability was amazing. 

“ ‘1 had no idea it was so simple,’ he boasted. 
‘I feel perfectly at ease!’ 

“The riding master smiled and said, ‘We’ll 
trot!’ Then the fun started. The person had 
absolutely no sense of rhythm and bobbed 
about like a cork on rough seas, while the rid- 
ing master shouted at intervals, ‘Up ! Up ! Up !’ 

60 



“First we’d walk, then we’d trot a bit and 
then we’d walk again. You know the system. 
Many people stopped to see us go by. Altho 
I thought my back would break every time he 
jounced down on me, I was quite amused when 
I thought how funny we must look. 

“By the time the hour was up, I was begin- 
ning to feel quite agreeable when I heard that 
irrepressible fat man say, ‘Let’s make it a two- 
hour lesson!’ And the master agreed. 

“I was furious. My back was aching with 
the strain. Then I heard him tell master he’d 
like to engage me for his lesson every day. 

“As I turned to look reproachfully at master, 
I noticed that he had let go of my leader for a 
minute. It was my opportunity. 

“I darted away so suddenly the fat man al- 
most went over backward, and started running 
as fast as I could. I galloped off the main high- 
way and down a lane, the fat man clinging 
frantically to the pummel. I raced up a hill 
and down again and took a flying leap over a 
stream. The fat man was very annoying. 

“Sometimes he hung on one side of me, and 
then on the other; he flew in and out of the 
saddle with great speed and once I felt him 
’round my neck pulling on my mane. But I 
couldn’t lose him. 

“A machine stopped in the middle of the 
road and I heard someone shout ‘Movies’ as we 
raced by. 

“In the distance now the beat of ‘King Cole’s’ 
61 


hoofs sounded nearer and nearer; I knew we’d 
be soon overtaken so I stopped very suddenly 
and waited for them to catch up with us. 

“The fat person was pretty well exhausted. 
I could hear him puffing like a steam engine. 

“You ought to have heard master trying to 
cheer him up when he arrived. Told him he 
had done so well — said he hoped he hadn’t been 
frightened and congratulated him on the way 
he had ‘kept his seat!’ I nearly laughed in his 
face. 

“But the fat man was very quiet and didn’t 
say much except that he had lost his hat. We 
went back but couldn’t find it and came home.’’ 

“Well,’’ said the old gray mare, when the 
chuckles had subsided, “I wonder who’ll take 
him out to-morrow!’’ 

“I wonder!’’ drawled Hazel Eye with a 
twinkle in his eye. “Before I was led away I 
heard master ask him about making an appoint- 
ment for to-morrow’s lesson. But he said he 
didn’t think he’d be able to ride to-morrow, and 
muttered something about being awfully busy 
and not knowing whether he could find time 
just now to take up riding after all.’’ And 
Hazel Eye burst out laughing again so hard 
that the stable boy came rushing in and put an 
end to the conversation. 

62 



THE SNOW MAIDENS 


F AR, far away in the icy region of the North 
Pole, where the sun hides itself for months 
at a time and great fields of ice and snow 
stretch as far as the eye can see, live the Snow 
Maidens — small, sprightly white creatures who 
sparkle like diamonds in the sunlight. Their 
land, however, is cold and dreary; no people 
live there and the only animals ever seen are 
the big white polar bears that occasionally 
travel that way. But the Snow Maidens are 
very happy in the far frozen northland because 
they know nothing about the rest of the world; 
they don’t miss the grass, the trees or flowers 
because they have never known these things. 

Once upon a time, many, many years ago, a 
fairy visited the Snow Maidens and persuaded 
some of them to leave the North and travel 
with her to a certain little town, thousands of 
miles away. 

“I’m asking you to come with me so that a 
good little boy I know may not be disap- 
pointed,” the fairy explained. “You see the 

63 



weather man hasn’t scheduled any snow until 
very late this winter and my little friend will be 
so unhappy if he doesn’t see snow on Christmas 
morning.” 

The Snow Maidens gathered closer about the 
fairy. 

“What is a boy? What is Christmas?” they 
asked, because they had never seen any mortals 
or heard anything about Christmas. The fairy 
told them as much as she could of the wonder- 
ful world that lay far south of them and of the 
people who lived there. And they were all so 
thrilled at her exciting stories that thousands 
offered to accompany her; so a few days before 
Christmas they started forth, reaching the town 
where the good boy lived on Christmas Eve. 

Down they descended, thousands of them, 
upon the town; the air was fairly white with 
them and the fairy laughed aloud when she 
thought how pleased Jimmy would be when he 
looked out his window next morning. 

The Snow Maidens who reached there first 
settled on the window sills of Jimmy’s house 
because they were so anxious to see inside a 
“home”; for the fairy had told them a “home” 
was the most wonderful thing one could imag- 
ine. The next morning just as soon as it was 
light they peeped in the windows. 

“Oh — Oh — Oh — Oh,” cried one Snow Maid 
excitedly. 

“Do tell us what you see!” begged the Maid- 
ens below her who were not able to look thru 
any window. 


64 


“A tree,” gasped the Snow Maid. “It’s 
beautiful, but not like any the fairy described 
to us! It’s colored and shines almost as brightly 
as our sun.” 

“There’s a star growing on the very top!” 
cried another. 

“Look, look,” exclaimed the first Maid, “see 
the fire burning in that hole in the wall. And 
those long fat black things hanging in front of 
it. How queer!” 

Just then the fairy passed by, counting the 
Snow Maidens to make sure none had been lost 
on their way south. 

“Please stop a minute, dear fairy,” begged 
one little maid breathlessly. “Tell me, are 
those ‘flowers’ I see yonder?” 

“3,333,” murmured the fairy, jotting down 
the number in her note-book before replying. 

“Flowers, did you say?” she asked, peering 
thru the window. “Yes, they are red roses you 
see on the table. In the summertime those 
flowers and many other kinds grow out here in 
the fields!” 

All who could gazed for the first time on 
flowers and were speechless with delight. 

“I wish we too might see,” sighed a little 
Snow Maid who had fallen on the ground just 
beneath the window. 

Suddenly in the house there sounded a steady 
thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, 
followed by a patter, patter, patter. 

“A Polar bear is coming,” cried the Snow 
Maid who had spoken first. 

65 


“Nonsense! they don’t have Polar bears 
here!” 

“It is a little white Polar bear — two of them! 
I can see them now,” insisted the first. “And 
they’re walking on their hind legs!” 

“I know,” cried the other, “they’re little chil- 
dren.” 

“What sweet bright faces they have!” 

“Yes. Much prettier than the bears.” 

“See them pull at those queer black things. 
I hope they won’t fall in the fire!” 

Then there was silence while all the maidens 
on that window sill strained to see into the 
room. 

“What are the children doing now?” called 
the Maidens below impatiently. 

“They’re sitting near the beautiful tree, and 
each has one of those black affairs that hung 
near the fire. They keep reaching in and tak- 
ing out the strangest objects! One wonderful 
round thing that jumps up as high as their 
heads when they drop it! And things good to 
eat — ” 

The Snow Maid was interrupted by a loud 
toot — toot — toot — toot! 

“Dear me, what is that?” 

“The children!” she laughed when the noise 
had subsided. “They’re puffing and blowing 
into something which makes that strange 
noise.” 

The Snow Maidens on the sill giggled softly. 

“What is it? Tell us!” 

66 


“The black things,” they snickered. “They 
are quite flat now and the children have tossed 
them aside.” 

“Someone is coming,” called a Maid with a 
very sharp ear. “Two grown-up children!” 

“The little ones have run up to them and 
they are all laughing and talking together,” 
one Snow Maiden informed the sisters below. 



And after a few minutes of breathless silence, 
she added, “Now they have gone away.” 


The Snow Maidens decided that the country 
to which the fairy had introduced them was a 
most enchanting one and wished that they 
might live there forever and ever and never re- 
turn to the cold and dreary North Pole. They 
spoke to the fairy about it and piteously be- 
67 


sought her to find a way so they might stay in 
this very wonderful place. 

The fairy wrinkled her little forehead and 
thought very hard. 

“You could never stay here in your present 
form,” she told them, “for once the warm 
weather sets in you will melt away. But I’ll go 
see Mother Earth and find out whether any- 
thing can be done for you.” 

She came back shortly with good news. 

“If you are willing to undergo a change you 
may stay,” she informed them. “Mother Earth 
offers to receive you in her laboratory under- 
ground and transform you into flowers. 

“How lovely,” cried all the Snow Maidens. 
“Next to being children, we’d love to be flow- 
ers!” 

So one day they disappeared into the earth. 
Many months passed and when their transfor- 
mation was complete, Mother Earth sent them 
back into the country they loved. 

There, one day as they were waving about 
very happily in the August sunshine, two little 
children came skipping by. 

“See, see,” cried several of the flowers ex- 
citedly, “the Christmas children, the Christmas 
children!” And all the flowers lifted their 
heads to see the children pass. 

The two little boys stopped and looked at the 
field of flowers. 

“Ooooh!” cried the younger, "see the snow!” 

“Silly,” laughed the older, “they’re August 
flowers!” 














